NFL Combine, Day One
by admin
Welcome to Indianapolis. Here’s your stopwatch.
I’m wrapping up my first day at the 2007 NFL scouting combine, and it feels as though I’ve been here two weeks. The pace is swift, and will only get more frenetic over the next couple of days.
First, let me set the scene. Most of the organized activity takes place in one meeting hall of the Indiana Convention Center. The look is what you’d expect – fluorescent lighting, banks of long folding tables along two walls and eight round tables spaced around the middle of the room. There’s a podium and rostrum at either end of the hall for interviews, a small stage in the middle for elevated cameras, and a couple TV monitors with round-the-clock NFL Network coverage.
The action can sometimes be like a three-ring circus, with an NFL head coach at one podium, a marquee player at the other and a third player seated at one of the tables, all giving simultaneous interviews. It can be a little awkward. Texans coach Gary Kubiak was mid-sentence when Wisconsin offensive tackle Joe Thomas – a candidate for the No. 1 overall pick – walked into the room and was escorted to the opposite end. Most of the reporters peeled away from Kubiak, some even going to his podium to retrieve their recorders.
There’s nearly as much hubbub in the hallway outside the media room, where NFL Sirius Radio and NFL Network teams broadcast live, reporters mill and nurse their cell phones, and clusters spontaneously form around besieged NFL notables.
It all must seem insane to people passing through to gem exhibits or kitchen trade shows.
A couple of readers chastised me for mentioning that I spoke to new Raiders coach Lane Kiffin without repeating a damn thing he said. My apologies. Some of his words trickled into my combine preview that ran Thursday. Much of the interview concerned his relationship with former Fresno State offensive coordinator and current Cal coach Jeff Tedford, a subject I will explore more fully next week.
Meanwhile, tracking down Kiffin in Indianapolis was one of my priorities and – huge upset here – it happened Thursday.
I was transcribing an interview with UCLA kicker Justin Medlock when someone tipped me that Kiffin was on the air with the Sirius guys. I hovered behind him, along with Jerry McDonald of the Oakland Tribune and Nancy Gay of the San Francisco Chronicle. When Kiffin was done, we followed him down the hall and asked for some face time. “I’d be happy to talk to you, but I can’t do it now,” Kiffin said, walking away briskly. “Talk to Mike Taylor to set something up.”
Taylor is the Raiders’ public relations director, and to his credit, he set up an interview. We were to meet Kiffin in the lobby of the Hyatt Hotel at 3 p.m. Nancy, Jerry and I were there, along with Matt Barrows, who covers the 49ers for the Sacramento Bee. We spoke to Kiffin in a dim corner of the rambling lobby, underneath an escalator and just to the side of a pizza counter.
The 31-year-old coach was friendly and accommodating, but ultimately cautious. He comes across as a man who is studiously avoiding controversy or even strong opinion. And in his position – the youngest head coach in modern NFL history, with no pro experience, working for one of the league’s most demanding owners – I can hardly blame him.
Kiffin’s most interesting lines may have been in response to a question about Jerry Porter. For those who missed it, Porter has changed his jersey number from 84 to 81, and (supposedly) his attitude from surly to eager.
“What Jerry did before and the actions that happened before don’t matter to me,” Kiffin said. “Because I wasn’t here. I’m not going to judge somebody based on that. I’ve had a number of meetings with Jerry. He’s come over, he’s been in town, he’s come by a couple times and it’s been very positive. And we’re excited about the future with Jerry. He continues to talk about the past. And this is part of the problem – the jersey, and getting to Jerry in his head, that’s over with now. Stop. Stop talking about it. – Because you have a bright future here. You caught 72 balls two years ago, you caught one last year. So I would want to change my number, too, if I caught one pass.”
I mentioned typing up Medlock’s interview. Each writer is asked to contribute one transcription to a pool, and I just happened to get what turned out to be (for some unfathomable reason) the longest interview of the day. Oh, well. Medlock was pretty likable, a left-footed African-American kicker who grew up in Fremont and played soccer before turning to football in high school.
His best quote was actually a retread that he borrowed from long-time NFL kicker Morten Andersen: “Whenever I come off the field (after) I miss a kick, I go get a drink of water, a cup of water and think about what I did wrong. After I’m done thinking about what I did wrong, I throw away the cup, throw away the kick.”
Not bad.
Finally, a couple of NFL people who really impressed me today: Mike Tomlin and Rick Smith.
Tomlin, 34, is the new Steelers coach. He was a handsome, younger guy wearing a gold chain over a sweater, and he seemed completely at ease on the podium. When someone asked Tomlin if he had gotten any advice from his previous boss, Vikings coach Brad Childress, he said: “Yeah, I got a bunch of advice from Brad. I asked for most of it.”
Smith, 37, is the general manager of the Houston Texans. He was slicker in a dark suit, but just as engaging with the media. He didn’t answer every question, but he managed to skirt the more difficult ones – involving current Houston quarterback David Carr and rumored future Houston quarterback Jake Plummer – without seeming either fake or lame.
I expect both of these guys to have long, prosperous NFL careers.
Phil Barber covers the Raiders for The Press Democrat, uncovering news and features despite the team’s best efforts to keep everything a secret. He’ll keep our online audience up-to-date and informed with his blog “Instant Raiders.”
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